Greenwich council has signed a £6m IT contract with Logicalis, an international solutions provider, to upgrade and implement a Local Area Network (LAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN) over the next seven years. The new IT network is set to support innovative e-services for the benefit of citizens and visitors to the London 2012 Olympics.

The network implementation will take place over the next 12-18 months and will involve the migration of over 10,000 employees to the new voice and data network. The network will also support Greenwich Council’s local home and remote workers.

Cllr Peter Brooks, Deputiy Leader of Greenwich Council, commented, “The decision to outsource the day to day operational maintenance of the network will enable us to focus on delivering applications and services that streamline existing processes.”

Cllr Brooks also said that the demand for council services during the Olympics would see a “significant increase” and that Greenwich Council wanted an IT partner to help meet the challenge the Olympics will bring.

Greenwich could be a hotspot for Olympic visitors as Greenwich Park has been proposed as a site for equestrian events. However there is an ongoing environmental campaign against the use of the World Heritage Site as a venue.